By:  Patterson                                         S.B. No. 606
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the liability of certain transportation entities
    1-2  providing public transportation and their independent contractors.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  AMENDMENT.  Article 6259, Revised Statutes, is
    1-5  amended by adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
    1-6        (d)  If a company is incorporated under Subsection (b) of
    1-7  this article or under Section C, Article 2.01, Texas Business
    1-8  Corporation Act, and the company provides excursion services
    1-9  between two contiguous counties, with one county having a
   1-10  population in excess of 1.5 million people and the second county
   1-11  bordering the Gulf of Mexico, then the limitation of liability for
   1-12  the excursion provider, together with any person or entity
   1-13  providing equipment, property, or services to the excursion
   1-14  provider, shall be $5 million per year if such excursion provider
   1-15  has filed with the Railroad Commission of Texas a certificate of
   1-16  insurance showing that it is the insured under a liability policy
   1-17  with aggregate policy limits of $5 million for such year.
   1-18        SECTION 2.  SAVING PROVISION.  The change in law made by this
   1-19  Act applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or after the
   1-20  effective date of this Act.  A cause of action that accrued before
   1-21  the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect at
   1-22  the time the action accrued, and the former law is continued in
   1-23  effect for that purpose.
   1-24        SECTION 3.  PURPOSE.  The past operation of an excursion
    2-1  railroad service between Houston and Galveston has demonstrated an
    2-2  important contribution to tourism and to the economic development
    2-3  of the region, and the continued operation of such an excursion
    2-4  service will further promote the economic vitality of the region.
    2-5        SECTION 4.  EFFECTIVE DATE.  This Act takes effect
    2-6  September 1, 1993, and expires August 1, 1997.
    2-7        SECTION 5.  EMERGENCY.  The importance of this legislation
    2-8  and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-9  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-10  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-11  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.